Great race Paul!! That time only got you 3rd? Going under 21 for a 5K in this area wins the 55-59 age group almost every time. Ya'll got some fast geezers up there._________________"Find the level of intolerance you can tolerate and stay there." David Horton

Dan, I think my highest mileage week was 55 when we combined a Derby Hill w/o with that long,hilly run east of Salem.
There's nothing really wrong with my Polar watch. Its just hard to get decent splits. I like the Timex better. I'm going to have to get a replacement soon.
The knee has been slowly getting better and doesn't give me any trouble when I run. Its very weird in that it almost feels like a stretched ligament._________________Paul

Run Like Hell 5K - 19:55 , 16th overall out of 566 runners. First in my age group. Fifth in the total Masters catagory. 36 sec improvement from last year on a slighty different course.
It was mild out for 8 AM in the morning. A bit wet but it didn't rain during the race and there was no wind. I tapered for this race with no hard running after Tuesday's interval workout. Looking back, I think my density of training was too high going into AC Gilbert.
Last week looked like this:
Sunday off after AC Gilbert
Monday 8 med-easy at Tryon. 4 loops with in loops with 4 1K's in each loop at about threshold intensity.
Tuesday 6 x 880yd at Duniway ranged from 3:10 to 2:59.9 on the last one. 440 recovery jog after each anywhere from 2:45 to 3:00. 8 total miles.
Wed 5.4 miles med on a very hilly course around home.
Thursday same as Monday except 3 loops within loops. 6 miles
Friday rest
Saturday 3.1 easy with 6 x 80m strides on a road loop near the gym.

There were no mile markers. I went out at a pace I felt was easier than AC Gilbert, but that may have just been my perception because it was a mild downhill. The big factor is that I maintained pace in the middle of the race. I know this course very well, and so I know what's coming up around every corner.
But that's just the nuts and bolts of this race and course. The real reason for the improvement is the work I did this Summer down in Salem with Dan. I thought if I could figure out the taper for a race, all that training would kick in, and it did.
To add a bit of humor here: for several years, Dan and I have had this ongoing gag. I tell him he is expending way too much energy trying to convince me that I am faster than I really am. As usual, the coach was right...again. _________________Paul

Very impressive! We may have answered the 10k riddle... The fitness gains were indeed there, just the training load took some time to come down from in order to realize them. I'm hoping the same thing happens with my team in their third week of tapering...

I think you stated it well. I've always perceived myself as better at the shorter long distance events like 3K or 5K. I tended to tail off rapidly when I ventured past 10K ( 15K, 1/2 Mar ). But after last year's Lake Run and 10K breakthrough, I started having doubts about that. I just couldn't bring my 5K down to meet the 42:10 effort. Isn't that worth about 20 flat, according to Purdy? John Kellogg's tables put it at 19:55. Then we had the 12:03 Bush Park XC right in the middle of our hardest training. So it would appear that a 5K breakthrough was just waiting to come out. I just hope the course was accurate!! But I caught and pulled away from a lot of people. The only person who pulled away from me was the top female runner.
As a side note, it is interesting to compare the AC Gilbert with Run Like Hell. Through the top ten runners the times were pretty close. In the next set of ten, Run Like Hell dropped off much faster. Some of that was due to the 1/2 Mar ciphoning off some of the top runners, but Run Like Hell still had 3 times the number of competitors._________________Paul

Micah, my age group is hell on wheels over here. The winning time was 19:17. In my club, alone, I would be lucky to be 5th if all the 55+ yr olds showed up at the same time. We actually have a chance to take the USATF Team XC Masters this year._________________Paul

I posted over on Jazmin's thread about your age graded time for the 19:55. It grades out to a very impressive 16:26._________________"Find the level of intolerance you can tolerate and stay there." David Horton

Paul came down today for a 1000's workout, hot on the heels of 12x400 yesterday up in Portland. His series went 4:17, 4:15, 3:39, 4:05. 600m jog between each one. #3 may look like an error, but he really got after it on that one, sticking with the girls who were trying to run fast enough to be done with three.

AC Gilbert 5K in Dan's neck of the woods. 20:39 - 21st out of 190 and 3rd in the 55-59 age division. Went out too fast in 6:26, then hit 6:45 and 6:48. A flat course except for a short hill at the beginning of the 3rd mile. The day started out quite chilly at below 40 deg. It warmed up enough to be pleasant by the time we hit our 9:30 start time.
This race time is in line with what my 10K was and my XC times this Summer. One interesting side note: my age group class is tough in this area. We had our 1st three runners finish before any other age group's top three runners, men or women.

I thought that 3rd repeat looked awful fast. Now I know the reason. Paul was trying to keep up with the girls. _________________"Find the level of intolerance you can tolerate and stay there." David Horton

That 1000 was like a time trial. I was still hoarse when Dan forced me to toe the line for the 4th one.

The ten miler two Saturday's ago is one of Dan's bread and butter workouts, and a favorite of many of his kids. We do a 1 1/2 mile run along the Park perimeter followed by two hill repeats. One full segment is 2 1/2 miles. Dan and I did 4 of these with no breaks in 94 min for 10 miles. The chill that morning was penetrating. Dan said later it took him 3 hours to warm up, and I know I was under the hot water at home for 30 min. I could have easily drained the tank!_________________Paul